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- Well, at least they didn't get to kill any whales (I imagine)!
-
- In a message dated 97-05-18 22:49:07 EDT, AOL News writes:
-
- << Subj:142 Whalers Rescued From Ice Floe
- Date:97-05-18 22:49:07 EDT
- From:AOL News
- BCC:LMANHEIM
-
- .c The Associated Press
-
- By MAUREEN CLARK
- ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Rescue crews plucked 142 whale hunters
- from the Arctic Sea ice off northern Alaska early Sunday after the
- ice cracked and sent them drifting out to sea.
- The whalers used marine radios to notify search and rescue
- teams, which launched two helicopters to ferry the group back to
- town. The rescue took more than seven hours and was complicated by
- fog.
- The whalers used hand-held global positioning systems to guide
- the rescuers to them.
- ``Once the ice breaks you're moving,'' said David Knowles, a
- rescue team member who was on the ice when it broke. ``We kept
- punching in new coordinates on the GPS. Every time they took a load
- of people, we were in a different place by the time they got
- back.''
- The 20-mile-long break off Barrow, the state's most northern
- point, occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday. By 5:30 a.m.
- Sunday, all of the whalers had been rescued. Some of them had
- drifted seven miles from shore.
- ``They were pretty calm,'' said Randy Crosby, deputy director of
- the North Slope borough Search and Rescue department. ``Some of the
- folks wanted to stay out there with their equipment until it was
- recovered. We thought it would be prudent if they came in.''
- Search crews were trying to determine if equipment left on the
- ice could be retrieved. Crosby estimated that about two dozen
- boats, up to 80 snowmobiles and ``lots of sleds and tents and
- camping equipment'' remained on the ice.
- ``That's everyone's livelihood out there - their boats, their
- motors, their outdoor equipment,'' Knowles said.
- North Slope Borough Mayor Benjamin said his crew managed to save
- the traditional native darting guns used to strike the whales.
- ``Some have been handed down for generations. Mine was my
- grandfather's,'' he said.
- Natives on Alaska's North Slope hunt for whales every spring,
- during the bowhead's migration from the Bering Sea to the Beaufort
- Sea.
- ``Whaling is inherently dangerous because of the conditions.
- Everything changes at any given moment and we were reminded of that
- last night,'' Nageak said. >>
-
-
- ---------------------
- Forwarded message:
- Subj: 142 Whalers Rescued From Ice Floe
- Date: 97-05-18 22:49:07 EDT
- >From: AOL News
-
- <HTML><PRE><I>.c The Associated Press</I></PRE></HTML>
-
- By MAUREEN CLARK
- ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Rescue crews plucked 142 whale hunters
- from the Arctic Sea ice off northern Alaska early Sunday after the
- ice cracked and sent them drifting out to sea.
- The whalers used marine radios to notify search and rescue
- teams, which launched two helicopters to ferry the group back to
- town. The rescue took more than seven hours and was complicated by
- fog.
- The whalers used hand-held global positioning systems to guide
- the rescuers to them.
- ``Once the ice breaks you're moving,'' said David Knowles, a
- rescue team member who was on the ice when it broke. ``We kept
- punching in new coordinates on the GPS. Every time they took a load
- of people, we were in a different place by the time they got
- back.''
- The 20-mile-long break off Barrow, the state's most northern
- point, occurred shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday. By 5:30 a.m.
- Sunday, all of the whalers had been rescued. Some of them had
- drifted seven miles from shore.
- ``They were pretty calm,'' said Randy Crosby, deputy director of
- the North Slope borough Search and Rescue department. ``Some of the
- folks wanted to stay out there with their equipment until it was
- recovered. We thought it would be prudent if they came in.''
- Search crews were trying to determine if equipment left on the
- ice could be retrieved. Crosby estimated that about two dozen
- boats, up to 80 snowmobiles and ``lots of sleds and tents and
- camping equipment'' remained on the ice.
- ``That's everyone's livelihood out there - their boats, their
- motors, their outdoor equipment,'' Knowles said.
- North Slope Borough Mayor Benjamin said his crew managed to save
- the traditional native darting guns used to strike the whales.
- ``Some have been handed down for generations. Mine was my
- grandfather's,'' he said.
- Natives on Alaska's North Slope hunt for whales every spring,
- during the bowhead's migration from the Bering Sea to the Beaufort
- Sea.
- ``Whaling is inherently dangerous because of the conditions.
- Everything changes at any given moment and we were reminded of that
- last night,'' Nageak said.
- AP-NY-05-18-97 2243EDT
- <HTML><PRE><I><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2> Copyright 1997 The
- Associated Press. The information
- contained in the AP news report may not be published,
- broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
- prior written authority of The Associated Press.<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3>
- </I></PRE></HTML>
-
-
- To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
- For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:31:59 -0400 (EDT)
- >From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Fwd: Yugoslav Leader's Elephants on Sale
- Message-ID: <970519003158_-2068284899@emout16.mail.aol.com>
-
- In a message dated 97-05-18 23:19:35 EDT, AOL News writes:
-
- << Subj:Yugoslav Leader's Elephants on Sale
- Date:97-05-18 23:19:35 EDT
- From:AOL News
- BCC:LMANHEIM
-
- .c The Associated Press
-
- By SNJEZANA VUKIC
- ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Wanted: a good home with an enormous
- yard, fresh air and no small animals underfoot - for two elephants
- bequeathed to Croatia by the late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.
- The Indian elephants, one of them a gift to Tito from late
- Indian Premier Indira Gandhi, have since Tito's death lived in a
- park on the Adriatic island of Brioni.
- But 27-year-old Soni and his companion, 25-year-old Lenka, show
- increasing signs they are cramped in their 770-square-yard pen.
- Lenka has been infertile, and Soni knocked out a visiting
- veterinarian with his trunk and stepped on an antelope who was
- grazing too close.
- ``We are looking for a purchaser who could provide them with a
- normal elephant's life, to do them good,'' zoo official Anton
- Vitasovic told the HINA state news agency. ``They need much more
- space.''
- The asking price is $24,000, but Vitasovic said, ``We may also
- just give them to whomever can take care of them.''
- Tito also collected other exotic animals, including leopards,
- tigers, bears and birds. After he died in 1980, most of the animals
- were divvied up among the republics of then-Yugoslavia.
- The authoritarian ruler, who reigned for 35 years, was known for
- his love of luxury: Among his possessions was a 300-bed yacht. >>
-
-
- ---------------------
- Forwarded message:
- Subj: Yugoslav Leader's Elephants on Sale
- Date: 97-05-18 23:19:35 EDT
- >From: AOL News
-
- <HTML><PRE><I>.c The Associated Press</I></PRE></HTML>
-
- By SNJEZANA VUKIC
- ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Wanted: a good home with an enormous
- yard, fresh air and no small animals underfoot - for two elephants
- bequeathed to Croatia by the late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito.
- The Indian elephants, one of them a gift to Tito from late
- Indian Premier Indira Gandhi, have since Tito's death lived in a
- park on the Adriatic island of Brioni.
- But 27-year-old Soni and his companion, 25-year-old Lenka, show
- increasing signs they are cramped in their 770-square-yard pen.
- Lenka has been infertile, and Soni knocked out a visiting
- veterinarian with his trunk and stepped on an antelope who was
- grazing too close.
- ``We are looking for a purchaser who could provide them with a
- normal elephant's life, to do them good,'' zoo official Anton
- Vitasovic told the HINA state news agency. ``They need much more
- space.''
- The asking price is $24,000, but Vitasovic said, ``We may also
- just give them to whomever can take care of them.''
- Tito also collected other exotic animals, including leopards,
- tigers, bears and birds. After he died in 1980, most of the animals
- were divvied up among the republics of then-Yugoslavia.
- The authoritarian ruler, who reigned for 35 years, was known for
- his love of luxury: Among his possessions was a 300-bed yacht.
- AP-NY-05-18-97 2312EDT
- <HTML><PRE><I><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2> Copyright 1997 The
- Associated Press. The information
- contained in the AP news report may not be published,
- broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
- prior written authority of The Associated Press.<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3>
- </I></PRE></HTML>
-
-
- To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
- For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
- Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 23:51:45 -0400
- >From: David Rolsky <David.J.Rolsky-2@tc.umn.edu>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [US] Minneapolis activists released from jail
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970518235143.006ac988@gold.tc.umn.edu>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- May 18, 1997
-
-
- MINNEAPOLIS - Both of the activists arrested today at Dayton's, a
- department store that sells fur, have been released OR. Frank Winbigler
- was released at approximately 7:00 PM and Matthew Mullard at 10:00.
- Bullard's nose was still bloody from when the arrested officer lifted him
- up from the ground by his nose with a finger in each nostril.
-
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:07 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (KH) Bear parts trade
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA02620@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >South China Morning Post
- Internet Edition
- 19 May 97
- Drive to wipe out trade in sun bears
- TRICIA FITZGERALD in Phnom Penh
-
-
- Wildlife protection officials, backed by international environmentalists,
- are cracking down on illegal hunters trading protected Malaysian sun bears
- from Cambodia's forests.
-
- Trade in the body parts, skin and bones of the bears was flourishing,
- officials said, with foreigners, especially from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea
- and Hong Kong, boosting demand.
-
- "The bear flesh is used for food and the skin, gall bladder and bone are
- sold and exported abroad for use in traditional Chinese medicine," said
- Thong Bun Than, chief of the Forestry Department's Wildlife Protection Unit.
-
- He said many Cambodians wanted to halt the trade in which bear paw soup was
- sold for up to US$400 (HK$3,095) a bowl to wealthy tourists and foreign
- businessmen.
-
- "In Cambodia there is a lot of wild life flesh sold at local markets, but
- now that we have the laws in place we intend to start clamping down,
- arresting and penalising the traders and confiscating their catches," Mr Bun
- Than said.
-
- He said his department wanted to set up reserves to protect Cambodia's
- wildlife.
-
- Backing the Government in protecting the bears are a growing number of
- animal rights groups who say the nation's bears are one of the most
- endangered in the region.
-
- Cambodia's representative in the International Union for the Conservation
- of Nature, David Ashfield, said the country would soon become a signatory to
- the worldwide Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
- Flora and Fauna.
-
- "This will impose a ban on the international trade which will operate
- alongside the bears already protected status inside Cambodia," Mr Ashfield said.
-
- Activists, based in Phnom Penh, have set up a bear sanctuary north of the
- capital.
-
- Wildlife protection officers said bears' paws were usually hacked off for
- cooking while the bear was still alive.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:14 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Hog epidemic raises questions
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA12429@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >The Straits Times
- MAY 19 1997
- Hog epidemic raises questions
- By Kao Chen
-
-
- THE disastrous foot-and-mouth disease, while being
- partially contained now, has already eaten into
- Taiwan's multi-billion dollar hog industry and shaved about one
- percentage point off its projected economic growth rate for this
- year.
-
- The disease, first eradicated from the island 80 years ago, had
- swept Taiwan like wild fire since late March, spreading quickly
- by mid-April and infecting a third of the island's 14 million
- hogs by the end of the month.
-
- But in the eyes of the island's environmentalists, at least, the
- dark cloud is not without its silver lining. They hope the
- crisis, which had led several countries to ban Taiwanese pork
- imports and sent pork prices plummeting, will check the
- irrational expansion of the island's hog industry -- one of its
- worst polluters.
-
- They are also hoping that political soul-searching would finally
- turn the tide in favour of the island's long-abused environment,
- as Taiwanese ponder the root causes of a recent spate of problems
- -- from a string of particularly savage murders to the
- foot-and-mouth epidemic.
-
- One immediate conclusion is that Taiwan has paid a heavy price
- for modernisation and prosperity. The related problems associated
- with its sorry state today are no different from the other tales
- of greed and bureaucratic paralysis that seem to plague the
- island: businessmen cutting corners for quick profit; politicians
- turning a blind eye on transgressions to protect patrons and
- supporters; and a government in paralysis, caught between
- bickering interest groups.
-
- Environment experts have long considered Taiwan ill-suited for
- the hog-rearing industry. According to agricultural economist
- Chen Ming-cheng, Taiwan could at most support a hog population of
- about 10 million a year without seriously straining the
- environment.
-
- Taiwan's CommonWealth magazine, a widely-read monthly on business
- and social trends, reported last year that 23 per cent of the
- island's potable water sampled had failed to meet safety
- specifications.
-
- It has a long record of pushing economic growth at the expense of
- environmental conservation, prompting environmental engineering
- professor Wen Ching-kwang to moan that the island's wealth was
- built on the sacrificial pile of its environment.
-
- Its rivers and streams are seriously contaminated by industrial
- and organic wastes. Taiwan's underground sewage system still only
- services 7 per cent of its population, leading to serious
- contamination of ground water, which is so over pumped that 10
- per cent of the island has reported varying degrees of sinking,
- some by as much as three metres.
-
- On the bright side, industrial pollution is now showing signs of
- abatement, partly as a result of pressure from local
- environmental groups and partly due to international market
- forces.
-
- The island's export-oriented industries could lose as much as
- half of their sales if they do not meet the ISO14000
- specification, which is an international environment management
- standard that many developed countries are beginning to require
- on imported goods.
-
- In its special environmental issue last year, CommonWealth
- described "grand canyons" made up of mountains of illegally
- dumped garbage on deserted river beds that are 15 storeys in
- height. All are eye-sores infected by rats and other pests,
- poisonous pollutants leaching into the ground and creeping over
- the rice paddies and vegetable plots nearby.
-
- Still, it took the footand-mouth epidemic to prompt questions,
- finally, about whether Taiwan should continue to serve happily as
- Japan's off-shore pig farm. For an island touted for its high per
- capita income (about S$17,000), is it not a bit ironic that it
- has to resort to making money at the expense of its environment,
- pundits ask?
-
- Sociologist Wu Nai-de from Taiwan's Academia Sinica told The
- Straits Times that the top issue on most islanders' minds now was
- the deteriorating quality of their life. And he predicted this
- would characterise and define the coming decade much as ethnic
- and national identity issues and the political movement did the
- previous one.
-
- There are no easy answers or fast solutions. As The CommonWealth
- publisher Diane Yin wrote: "The only hope is in raising people's
- awareness, so they make the politicians take responsibility and
- action."
-
- The Portuguese, who called Taiwan Ilha Formosa, or Island
- Beautiful, when they first saw its lush green hills and sparkling
- coastline in the 16th century, would not be able to recognise it
- today. Analysts are hoping that, one day, the Island of Greed, as
- Taiwan is now often called, would again be worthy of its old name
- Ilha Formosa.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:25 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (HK) Shark emergency taskforce set up
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA09931@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >South China Morning Post
- Internet Edition
- 19 May 97
- Shark emergency taskforce set up
- FIONA HOLLAND
-
-
- A taskforce to tackle sharks will be on standby this summer ready to
- implement emergency measures.
-
- Closing beaches, doubling up shark nets, installing repellent devices and
- even hunting sharks would be considered in the event of an "outrageous and
- unprecedented danger posed to the public".
-
- Principal assistant secretary of Broadcasting, Culture and Sport Jonathan
- McKinley said the team would draw on experts from outside the Government.
-
- Branch officials, fisheries officers, police and academics would be
- convened if a school of large sharks was confirmed.
-
- "If we had the unprecedented situation of five great white sharks hunting
- in a pack off the Clear Water Bay coast . . . we want to consider
- everything," Mr McKinley said.
-
- But experts said deploying a team once sharks were spotted was no
- substitute for a study of why sharks ventured into Hong Kong waters and fed
- on humans.
-
- The first scare of the year occurred with a suspected sighting off
- Silverstrand beach this month.
-
- Since 1991, there have been seven confirmed deaths by shark attack.
-
- Two years ago experts, including the director of the International Shark
- Attack File, Dr George Burgess, recommended an 18-month study which would
- track sharks using sonar.
-
- Bureaucratic wrangling and entrepreneur Harald Kvam's initiation of his own
- $10 million shark project have led to a delay in the government study.
-
- Mr McKinley said the Government was considering asking overseas experts to
- see whether they could build on the smaller studies done over the past two
- years.
-
- If so, the Government would combine Mr Kvam's findings with a
- government-funded fish study and research into oceanic currents and weather
- patterns.
-
- But associate professor at Hong Kong University's Department of Ecology and
- Biodiversity, Dr Yvonne Sadovy resigned from the shark working group in
- protest at the lack of progress.
-
- "It has never been clear why they could not do the proposal that we
- recommended in the first place."
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:32 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (HK) Fish farms threaten water
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA15652@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >South China Morning Post
- Internet Edition
- 19 May 97
- Fish farms threaten water
- MAY SIN-MI HON
-
-
- Water quality near a marine park is under threat from illegal fish farms
- nearby.
-
- Two illegal sets of rafts were set up on the southeast side of Crooked
- Island, near the Yan Chau Tong Marine Park in Mirs Bay two months ago.
-
- According to Patsy P. S. Wong, senior aquaculture fishery officer in the
- Agriculture and Fisheries Department, "the operators of the illegal fish
- rafts practising outside the designated zone have moved away after receiving
- a summons from the department".
-
- However, the South China Morning Post found that two illegal fish rafts
- had been set up at nearby Crescent Island.
-
- The Planning, Environment and Lands Department said there had been no
- deterioration in water quality in the park.
-
- But Dr Wong Yuk-shan, associate director at the Research Centre, Hong
- Kong University of Science and Technology, said illegal fish culture
- polluted nearby waters.
-
- "Fish culture uses a lot of, usually overdosed, nutrients for feeding.
- The nutrients dissolve and give rise to eutrophication. That allows a large
- amount of algal growth and hence gives rise to red tide."
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:41 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (HK) New cholera victim found
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA04414@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >Hong Kong Standard
- 19 May 97
- New cholera victim found
- By Yau Wai-ping
-
-
- ANOTHER man has been admitted to hospital with suspected cholera, fuelling
- further fears of an epidemic in the territory.
-
- Separately, health officials examined staff of a Tuen Mun seafood
- restaurant with a poor hygiene record in a stepped-up government campaign
- to contain the spread of the highly infectious disease.
-
- A government spokesman said an 86-year-old man surnamed Wong was admitted
- to Princess Margaret Hospital as a suspected cholera case on Sunday
- morning.
-
- Mr Wong, a Sha Tin resident, had sought treatment at the Prince of Wales
- Hospital but was transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital.
-
- He was listed in stable condition.
-
- The new case broke just a day after four people were also admitted to
- hospital as suspected cholera victims.
-
- The territory now has 11 confirmed cases of cholera.
-
- Meanwhile, Department of Health officials examined the staff of the New
- Guangdong Restaurant in Tuen Mun, which was inspected by Urban Services
- Department officials for the second day in a row.
-
- The seafood eatery had shut down on Saturday after a surprise visit by
- health and department inspectors.
-
- The restaurant was ordered to close and improve its hygiene in three days.
-
- Workers were on Sunday seen cleaning and disinfecting the restaurant while
- a notice erected outside said decoration work was going on.
-
- The restaurant was one of the food premises patronised by cholera victims.
- Health officials will inspect the restaurant on Tuesday to decide whether
- it is fit to open again.
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:11:46 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (TH) Shrimp tariff fight intensifies
- Message-ID: <199705190511.NAA17032@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- >Bangkok Post
- 19 May 97
- Shrimp tariff fight
- intensifies
- Raisers expected to ask feed producers
- to boycott EU goods
- Woranuj Maneerungsee
-
- Shrimp raisers are seeking cooperation from animal feed
- producers to prevent the European Union from further cutting
- tariff privileges for shrimp imports from Thailand under its
- Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
-
- The Shrimp Raisers Club may ask members of the Thai Animal
- Feed Association to stop importing ingredients from EU
- countries for animal feed for the local aquaculture industry, an
- officer of the association said. The two groups will meet today
- with the Thai Frozen Food Association to discuss the issue.
-
- Thai shrimp exports are set to lose more of their previous
- benefits under the EU's GSP programme. The EU imposed a
- 50% cut in the preferential tariff benefits for shrimp imported
- from Thailand on January 1. Tariffs are now between 8.1% and
- 9.7%, compared with 4% to 4.5% last year. Thailand will be
- removed from the programme entirely in January 1999, and
- tariffs will range from 12% to 14.4%.
-
- The EU claims that Thailand's economy has reached a level
- where it no longer needs full assistance granted to poorer
- nations.
-
- Other fisheries, fruit and fresh vegetable and processed food
- industries have also lost some of their tariff privileges.
-
- Sithichai Kraisithisirin, president of the Thai Frozen Foods
- Association, said that animal feed producers might be urged to
- stop imports of additives from EU countries.
-
- Thailand's largest conglomerate, the CP Group, is leading the
- boycott. It has already stopped importing additives for
- aquaculture feed, said to be worth more than one billion baht per
- year.
-
- Mr Sithichai said local industries must start preparing now to
- start negotiating with the European Commission, since the
- complete withdrawal of privileges is less than two years away.
-
- His association is taking a diplomatic approach, cooperating with
- the Foreign Ministry to map out a plan of assistance in terms of
- technology, production and promotion from EU counterparts.
-
- Mr Sithichai said the Commerce Ministry had taken the
- appropriate measures in its negotiations with the Commission to
- date. Although the ministry could not persuade the EU to restore
- the preferential tariffs to their original levels, exporters
- believe
- Commerce Minister Narongchai Akrasanee will make a good
- case when he heads a delegation meeting with the European
- Commission.
-
- Thai shrimp exports have been hit hard by the cuts in GSP
- privileges and the fall of EU currencies against the US dollar, Mr
- Sithichai said. The European Union is Thailand's third-biggest
- market for shrimp, after the United States and Japan.
-
- Thai prices are already higher than those of competitors such as
- India and Indonesia because the country lacks adequate raw
- materials to produce processed shrimp for export. As well, most
- Thai shrimp are farmed but diseases have taken a heavy toll on
- some operations in the past year.
-
- As a result, Mr Sithichai said, exports of Thai frozen shrimp to
- the EU fell by 10% in the first quarter compared with the same
- period last year. But sales of value-added products could
- maintain growth at the same level as last year, he added.
-
- He expressed the view that problems due to the lack of raw
- materials would be minimised when farmers harvest the next
- crop in June. But the weakness in EU currencies could remain a
- concern.
-
-
- Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1997
- Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
- Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:32:21 +0800 (SST)
- >From: Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: San Francisco's campaign against fresh kill
- Message-ID: <199705190532.NAA17691@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
-
-
- Those who want to write letters can write to < editor@hkstandard.com >.
- Note that Terry Sellards is a consultant to the Hong Kong Standard.
- Thanks.
-
- Vadivu
- _____________________________________________________________
-
- >Hong Kong Standard
- 19 May 97
- Fowl lawsuit about money, not race
- By Terry Sellards
-
- SAN FRANCISCO seems to have outdone itself recently on the Looney Tunes
- front.
-
- I refer to the lawsuit, racial mud-slinging and embarrassingly bizarre
- controversy about the cruelty of killing chickens before you cook and eat
- them.
-
- Sound nuts? It is. But the fact remains that 10 animal rights organisations
- and 75 individuals have filed a lawsuit against 12 Chinatown merchants to
- stop them from selling live animals _ mostly chickens _ for culinary
- purposes. Currently, customers have the choice of having a store employee
- kill the chicken on the spot or taking the ill-fated bird home alive to
- commit the dastardly deed in the privacy of their own kitchens. The Chicken
- Brigade wants this inhumane practice stopped.
-
- The animal rights activists call the Chinatown method a ``fresh kill''.
- Animal rightists hold that this ``fresh kill'' is particularly cruel, when
- compared with the supermarket way of selling a dead chicken which has been
- slaughtered far away from the public eye.
-
- Linguistically speaking ``fresh kill'' is a hunting term meaning a fowl or
- animal that has been killed quite recently and is therefore particularly
- suited for cooking up an especially tasty dish. The same logic applies to
- fresh fish. However, in their monumental arrogance (and ignorance) the
- animal rights activists have used the term ``fresh kill'' to prove God
- knows what.
-
- Linguistic logic would lead us to believe that what the activists want is
- meat that has been lying around dead for a long time. Talk about a raunchy
- testing dish.
-
- So, is cruelty to animals the issue here? I don't think so. For me, it's
- denial of reality, primarily the fact that most human beings are meat
- eaters and have always killed other animals and eaten them. Our Stone Age
- ancestors had some really juicy ways of achieving this.
-
- I don't have to go any further back than my childhood to remember the
- bloody Saturday afternoon ritual of selecting our Sunday chicken and
- watching the friendly, but always odiferous butcher wring the bird's neck
- and pluck its feathers with hot water and a crude device made from strips
- of rubber tires. He then wrapped the murdered bird and handed it to my
- father with a cheery. ``Enjoy it. There is nothing quite as good as fresh
- fried chicken.''
-
- You see my dad and I always attended the ritual, as it was considered a bit
- too gruesome for mum and my little sister. But, I made sure they knew every
- gory little detail in the hope of curbing their appetites. It didn't.
-
- If the San Francisco champions of animals really cared about all this, they
- would pick a really big target, like say Colinga, California. Colinga is
- about 300 kilometres south of San Francisco in the dry, dusty, beastly hot
- San Joaquin Valley. The industry in Colinga is a giant feed lot where tens
- of thousands of cattle are kept in tight quarters so they won't lose any
- weight moving around, and then force fed to get them as big and fat as soon
- as possible, so they can be slaughtered as soon as possible, so the owners
- can make the most money possible.
-
- Some Chinese American politicians in San Francisco have been shouting
- ``racism'' from the rooftops over the fact that it was only 12 Chinese
- merchants who have been hit with the lawsuit. This may get them a few
- votes, but it misses the mark and contributes nothing to the solution.
- These 12 Chinese merchants were selected for court action because they are
- an easy target, not because they are Chinese. To attack the Colinga beef
- kings would be to attack the California agricultural industry.
-
- Similarly, the purveyors of live shrimp, crab, and lobster at San
- Francisco's famous Fisherman's Wharf brings in hundreds of thousands of
- tourists annually. These mostly Portuguese and Italian ``murders'' of
- crustaceans were not targeted by the animalists because Fisherman's Wharf
- represents big bucks to San Francisco. They were not passed over because of
- their race. It's not about race. It's about money and power.
-
- In essence, this Chinatown comic opera is about the ego-tripping of some
- self-righteous pretenders to animal rights concern. Many of the board
- members of the animal rights organisations, by the way, are vegetarians.
- They need to be stopped in their efforts against the 12 merchants for two
- reasons.
-
- First, the merchants don't deserve it. And second, if they animalists
- prevail, then there will be yet another story making the rounds of the
- world's press that San Francisco is a nutty place. We get enough of that
- already.
-
- * Terry Sellards is a consultant to the Hong Kong Standard and Sing Tao
- Group.
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:13:36 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [CA] Another rodeo protest
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519001419.123752ce@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- VANCOUVER, B.C. - Today (Sunday) saw another protest against the Cloverdale
- Rodeo.
-
- Around 20 protestors participated in a peaceful demonstration outside the
- fairground, carrying picket signs and handing out leaflets about the cruelty.
-
- There were several incidences of abuse from passers-by, but some comments
- were more supportive and a few even offered congratulations to the
- protestors for doing something.
-
- Deborah Probert, of the Vancouver Humane Society, who was took part in the
- demo, said VHS had run a series of ads on a local radio station (CKNW), and
- that after each airing they had received several abusive and threatening
- calls to their answering machine.
-
- "We also received a lot of calls that were supportive of what we were doing.
- Most of the calls were supportive," Probert said.
-
- The action was organised by Voices For The Animals and Animal Allies, with
- the help and support of the Vancouver Humane Society and For The Love of
- Animals.
-
- There were no arrests and not even any police or security personal presence
- at the site of the demo.
-
- David J Knowles
- Animal Voices News
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:13:39 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [CA] More abuse at the rodeo
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519001421.12377ae6@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- VANCOUVER, B.C. - After demonstrating against the cruelty of the rodeo
- itself, four of us went into the fairgrounds to check out the animals in the
- petting zoo and the pony ride.
-
- At the petting zoo, several animals diplayed signs of overheating, and
- despite the area having a sign indicating that it was an "Animal Rest
- Period", no attempt was made to stop children continuing to pet the animals
- - sometines quite aggressively.
-
- The pony ride concession had been checked out the day before by someone from
- the Vancouver Humane Society, and several concerns were pointed out to the
- midway manager.
-
- Today, the same problems were still apparent: the staff contradicted each
- other when asked how often the ponies received rest breaks, water and food;
- none knew how long it had been since the last break the ponies had; and none
- were sure how often the ponies were replaced.
-
- During the time we were there, at least two of the ponies were staggering on
- their back legs; they were not rested - the children were mounted/dismounted
- while the ponies carried on moving around.
-
- (The ride consisted of several ponies tethered to metal poles with short
- chains, which in turn were attached to their bridles.)
-
- Some of the ponies were being literally dragged around the ring by their noses.
-
- Going in pairs we, together with our VHS contact and a local animal-issues
- columnist, went to complain about the abuse and complete lack of concern
- shown towards the animals.
-
- We were informed that the midway manager was busy, and couldn't talk to us
- (although he had talked to the first two). We were also informed that the
- ponies were "well -looked after," were "treated better than most children,"
- and that the owner was regualarly inspected by the local SPCA and that they
- (the SPCA) were satisified with the way the ponies were treated.
-
- The adminsistrative staff that we dealt with stonewalled us when we asked
- for the name and address of the person responsible for the ponies and
- finally informed us that he could be contacted through them. (The midway
- operators are a firm called West Coast Amusements, but they say the pony
- ride is opertated by a sub-contractor). One of the staff we spoke with did
- admit that she had received "several complaints" about the ride, and stated
- that she would go check it out herself on her break.
-
- [I'll try to follow this up tomorrow morning with both the SPCA and the
- midway manager, and will attempt to get an "on-the-record" response from
- both. I also took some photographs of the above, and will be having these
- developed tomorrow as well]
-
- David J Knowles
- Animal Voices News
-
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:13:34 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [CA] 7 Arrested in Cloverdale Rodeo action.
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519001417.12373866@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- VANCOUVER, B.C. - 7 people were arrested on Friday evening following an
- attempted civil disobedience action at the Cloverdale Rodeo, in Surrey, in
- the Lower Mainland of B.C.
-
- The 7 arrested - 3 youths & 4 adults , according to a report in Today's
- Province newspaper, were released on condition they did not appear at the
- Cloverdale fairgrounds (site of the rodeo) again.
-
- Two of the protestors ran onto the field and tried to chain themselves to
- the chutes.
-
- Charges are said to be pending.
-
- [No more information is known at this time, but as soon as I find out more,
- I'll post something further. Sorry about the delay in posting this, but I'm
- having some intermittent trouble getting on-line as my ISP is upgrading.]
-
- David J Knowles
- Animal Voices News
-
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:47:55 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Honey not safe for babies, parents told
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519004837.0c57b02e@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, May 18th, 1997
-
- Honey not safe for babies, parents told
- By James Hardy
-
- THE Government is to risk a political row by throwing its weight behind
- moves to outlaw fox hunting.
-
- Home Office officials have begun preparations to introduce a Government
- Bill, possibly before the end of the new session of parliament. Labour peers
- and backbench MPs are understood to have been pressing ministers to take the
- lead and improve the chances of the measure becoming law.
-
- Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, last week indicated that a Private Members'
- Bill was the most likely option, but The Telegraph has learned that
- officials are drawing up plans for the Government to put forward its own
- legislation.
-
- A Government Bill would remove the time constraints and stalling tactics
- that are routinely deployed by opponents of backbench legislation. But it
- would also risk provoking a confrontation with the Lords, already spoiling
- for a fight over moves to ban all handguns.
-
- A senior Whitehall official said: "This is certainly a runner. It is not an
- immediate priority but it could happen in this session because despite the
- weight of Government business the session will run for 18 months."
-
- Details of the proposals are unclear, but one possibility being canvassed at
- Westminster is a free vote on the principle of a ban followed by detailed
- legislative proposals from the Home Office.
-
- Another would be for the Government to adopt proposals put forward by a
- backbencher.
-
- Tony Blair said before the election that he opposed hunting with hounds and
- would vote for a ban - giving a broad signal to the 418 incoming Labour MPs
- of the leadership line.
-
- But any move openly to promote abolition through Government legislation
- could meet fierce opposition in Cabinet among senior ministers, thought to
- include Robin Cook and Jack Cunningham, who support hunting.
-
- The Labour manifesto pledged a "free vote in Parliament" without committing
- the party to adopting a Bill and when the measure did not appear in the
- Queen's Speech it was assumed ministers were backing away from confrontation
- by leaving the issue to a backbench MP.
-
- The move took pro-hunting peers by surprise. Baroness Mallalieu, a leading
- Labour opponent of abolition, said ministers were well aware of the
- complexities involved in drafting a Government Bill. "Some of the things
- said during the general election by a variety of people were indicative of
- the need for a proper inquiry," she said. "Even in a reformed House of Lords
- there is undoubtedly a majority among life peers for making fox hunting a
- criminal offence and a free vote is a free vote in both Houses."
-
- Many pro-hunting peers are unlikely to be deflected by the threat of
- bringing forward legislation to abolish the voting rights of hereditary
- peers. One pro-hunting peer said: "The hereditaries who face going out of
- business would use it as one final opportunity to kick the
- Government in the teeth."
-
- Successive polls have suggested that a majority in the country favour
- abolition but supporters of hunting predict a heavy backlash when the full
- effects of a ban became apparent.
-
- Janet George, of the British Field Sports Society, said: "There will be an
- almighty fight over this. Labour has a mandate from the urban majority but
- not the rural minority. The countryside does not trust Labour and an
- anti-hunting Bill would bring out a damaging divide
- that would set town against country."
-
- The BFSS claims that up to 20,000 of the 60,000 horses involved in the sport
- could be destroyed along with 15,000 of the 20,000 hounds. Around 300
- ancient hunts would disappear and point-to-point racing, which is heavily
- dependent on amateur enthusiasts, would be devastated. It claims that in
- some areas there are few other viable methods of controlling the fox
- population.
-
- Kevin Saunders, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "The Lords can
- filibuster as much as they want and might even succeed in rejecting it, but
- the Government can still have the final say once it is back in the Commons."
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:47:58 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Honey not safe for babies, parents told
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519004840.0c57ceae@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, May 18th, 1997
-
- Honey not safe for babies, parents told
- By Andrew Gilligan
-
- HONEY, regarded as one of the purest foods in existence, has been declared
- unsuitable for babies and there are also fears that honey made from the
- pollen of genetically-engineered crops could endanger people's health.
-
- Warnings that babies under 12 months should not be given honey are beginning
- to appear on commercially-produced brands. The Government and honey trade
- associations said last week that the warning was issued as a precaution
- against infant botulism, a serious form of food-poisoning. "There has been a
- number of cases overseas - though none in Britain can be pinned down to
- eating honey," said Walter Anzer, secretary of the British Honey Importers'
- and Packers' Association. "The risk is small and it is purely a
- precautionary measure," he said.
-
- A Ministry of Agriculture newsletter gave more details: "Very occasionally,
- honey may contain low numbers of naturally-occurring bacterial spores. Young
- infants' intestines may not have developed sufficiently to cope with them,
- which can lead to illness."
-
- The Telegraph has also obtained details of a study funded by the Ministry
- which warns of a second danger. Botanists at Leicester University have found
- that bees can pick up mutant pollen from "transgenic" crops - crops altered
- to carry foreign genes - with potentially serious effects on human health.
-
- Millions of pounds have been spent over the past decade by companies
- "reinventing nature" - mixing plants' natural genes with others to boost
- yields or increase resistance to insects and disease.
-
- Some of these added genes are toxic to humans as well as insects; others can
- cause violent allergic reactions. Genetically-altered pollen "could pose
- problems to man who consumes honey as a food", the study says.
-
- The paper's authors, Colin Eady, David Twell and Keith Lindsey, warn: "As
- ever-increasing numbers of genetically-engineered crop plants are being
- approved for release experiments, it is vital that the potential problems
- associated with the expression of transgenic products in pollen are addressed."
-
- Until recently, most planting of genetically-modified crops was for
- small-scale experimental purposes, but now licences are being issued for
- commercial planting and production. In their paper, the scientists warn that
- the transgenic pollen proteins could remain active in honey for several
- weeks. Though their concentration was "expected to be very low", even
- "vanishingly small quantities" of the proteins could cause illness in
- allergic individuals.
-
- Professor Lindsey, now professor of plant molecular biology at Durham
- University, said last week: "It is essential that genetically-modified
- plants are scrutinised very carefully before any
- release to take into account any potentially adverse effects on the
- environment. If the industry wants to use transgenic plants, they have to
- generate the confidence of the consumer."
-
- But he said that there was no evidence that anyone had been harmed. He said:
- "What we trying we were trying to do was represent the worst-case scenario."
- Currently, "in insect-resistant crops, the proteins that have been produced
- are non-toxic to humans". "They
- are highly specific to insects," he said. "The scenario we constructed is an
- extremely unlikely scenario, though there is still an element of risk."
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:48:04 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Teflon fumes blamed for pet bird deaths
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519004847.0c57e324@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, May 18th, 1997
-
- Teflon fumes blamed for pet bird deaths
- By Tim Reid and Roger Todd
-
- PET birds are being killed by toxic fumes from Teflon-coated products such
- as frying pans and ironing-board covers, vets claimed last week.
-
- Thousands of owners are unwittingly risking the lives of their pets by using
- the non-stick products, which carry no warning of the dangers of Teflon. In
- the most recent case, Louisa Henry, from Nottingham, who was cooking with a
- new Teflon-coated baking sheet, saw all her four birds die in three weeks.
-
- Two vets, Neil Forbes, a bird expert, and Dennis Jones, wrote to the
- Veterinary Record last week to try to raise awareness among bird owners
- about their concerns over Teflon, and to force manufacturers to issue
- warnings on products.
-
- Mr Jones had been contacted by Mrs Henry, whose cockatiel Chester collapsed
- while she cooked chops. Mr Jones did an autopsy which he said convinced him
- that Teflon poisoning was to blame. Mr Forbes stressed that Teflon-coated
- products posed a hazard only when they became overheated. DuPont, the
- manufacturers of Teflon, and Mrs Henry's baking sheet, deny that their
- product caused the death of her birds.
-
- A spokesman said: "Fumes from overheated non-stick coatings can be deadly to
- birds. But many other products, such as butter and cooking oil, can be
- hazardous to birds at much lower temperatures. We subscribe to the view that
- birds should not be kept in the kitchen. We do not put warnings on our
- products. It would be inappropriate to single out one product from so many."
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:48:06 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Nuclear plant seal is rescued
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519004849.0c5775f2@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, May 19th, 1997
-
- Nuclear plant seal is rescued
-
- A SEAL that threatened to close down a nuclear power station has been rescued.
-
- There was concern that the Atlantic grey seal could have got into
- difficulties as it swam around a reservoir at the Dungeness B nuclear power
- station in Kent. But it was hoisted to safety on Saturday from a platform
- which had been lowered into the reservoir. The animal was taken to a seal
- sanctuary for a medical check-up and, if all was well, would be released
- into the sea, said a spokesman for the power station.
-
- The seal arrived in the reservoir nine days ago, sucked in through an intake
- pipe from the English Channel after a protective grille was knocked off by a
- trawler. Although trapped in the concrete reservoir, the animal was in no
- danger from the power station operations.
-
- However seals need a place to rest out of the water when they are tired. The
- platform was lowered by crane in the hope that the seal would rest on it and
- then be hoisted to safety. If the operation had not gone to plan, management
- at the plant were prepared to consider
- shutting down the power station, at an estimated cost of ú125,000 a day, so
- divers could rescue the seal.
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:48:08 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Farms 'must go green to win subsidy
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519004850.0c574a26@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, May 19th, 1997
-
- Farms 'must go green to win subsidy'
- By David Brown, Agriculture Editor
-
-
- ALL farm subsidies in future should be paid only in return for measures to
- protect the environment, the Council for the Protection of Rural England
- said last night.
-
- In a package of proposed farm reforms which it will submit to the
- Government, the CPRE said the "power of the supermarkets" should also be
- harnessed to pressurise farmers to improve techniques and protect the look
- of the countryside.
-
- It also called for controls to be extended to cover major farming operations
- including the ploughing of moorland and chalk grassland. Statutory
- protection for important landscape features such as walls and ponds was also
- needed.
-
- Tony Burton, who will set out the CPRE strategy at a conference of
- international agricultural journalists today, said: "The Government spends
- twice as much on farm support as it does on urban regeneration but the
- public has virtually no say on the way this is used." He will tell the
- conference, to be attended by the Princess Royal, that agricultural policy
- "still over-compensates farmers for controlling production and undervalues
- everything else we want from our farmed landscape".
-
- The Government "must put flesh on the bones of its manifesto commitment to
- put concern for the environment at the heart of policy-making".
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 12:52:48 +0200
- >From: Inge Skog <skog@algonet.se>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Eating live monkey brains
- Message-ID: <l03010d00afa5b6b02db6@[195.100.144.8]>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- In Southeast Asia, I have often heard the story about live monkey brains
- being eaten as a delicacy. It was told by people from all ethnic groups,
- and the alleged actors were most often Chinese (but invariably from some
- other province than the informant, if he himself was a Chinese). However, I
- never found anybody who could give me first-hand evidence on this.
-
- In the West, you can hear these stories being told by "knowledgeable"
- people, popular books tell you that 'the Chinese have been eating live
- monkey brains for thousands of years' (sensational, since the sources tell
- us preciously little about Chinese food a few thousand years ago), and this
- kind of meals are even featured in movies.
-
- The stories fall into two different groups. In one, you use a saw to remove
- the upper part of the scull, and then you eat the brain with a spoon. In
- the other, you suck the brain up with a straw.
-
- Now, let us distinguish betwen three possibilities.
-
- First, it has really happened that somebody, somewhere, has eaten live
- monkey brain. This possibility cannot be ruled out, of course. Individuals
- are capable of the most horrible crimes and atrocities.
-
- Second, the eating of live monkey brains is an established cultural
- tradition somewhere. I have never heard, or read, any reliable evidence of
- this.
-
- Third, the eating of live monkey brain is a myth. Anthropologists and
- folklorists have studied this kind of phenomena extensively. Cannibalism is
- a case in point. Stories about cannibalism abound, but when the alleged
- cases are subjected to a critical, scholarly examination very little is
- left. (This is not to say that cannibalism has not ocurred. But there is
- not much similarity between the sensational stories and the actual cases. )
-
- Instead, it turns out that this kind of stories normally have a very
- specific function: to stress the difference between 'us' (normal, decent
- people) and 'them' (uncivilized, cruel, primitive, morally underdeveloped).
-
- Lots of modern 'urban legends' convey this message on 'the others'. Today,
- the many refugees from Latin American countries and Southeast Europe to
- many European countries (including my own, Sweden) have caused a
- renaissance of this kind of stories. ('I have heard that...'; 'A cousin of
- colleague of mine told him that...'; 'I read in the paper that...';
- 'Everybody knows that...'; 'How can you deny these well-established,
- well-know facts?') The result is another obstacle to mutual understanding
- between the new immigrants and the citizens of the host country. - Another
- example is the stories told in any country at war about the enemy (what
- stories were told in the US about the Japanese? In Japan about the
- Americans?)
-
- It is worthwile to reflect for a moment upon the function of all these
- stories about exotic strangers eating live monkey brains. (It is sad to see
- that they have, for instance, been used by vegetarians/vegans to strengthen
- the 'don't-eat-meat' and 'meat-eaters-are-cruel' messages. We have much
- better arguments than that.)
-
- My question is, then: does anybody have any *reliable evidence* of the
- eating of live monkey brains as an established cultural practice, a feature
- of any society or sub-culture anywhere?
-
- Inge
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 10:28:48 -0400 (EDT)
- >From: MINKLIB@aol.com
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Mink Farmers Lie to Discredit the ALF
- Message-ID: <970519102848_-1197082163@emout13.mail.aol.com>
-
- If you subscribed to ar-news about 2 months ago you may have seen the posts
- about 5 animal rights activists that have been charged with breaking into a
- mink farm in Ont. and releasing 1,500 mink. The fur trade was claiming that
- 400 of the released mink had died as a result of being released.
-
- In court the fur farmer was ordered to verify this statistic under oath, and
- supply some sort of proof that any had died, such as a corpse. At this point
- the fur farmer lowered the death toll to 300, then 200, and eventually to 20!
- So 1,500 mink were released, 1,000 supposedly recovered, 480 free, and 20
- dead that would have been dead at the end of the year anyway.
-
- The point to all of this is that the fur trade has been lying after every
- mink farm raid, in an obvious attempt at discrediting the ALF, and other
- groups that have liberated fur farm animals. This, however, was the only
- time a fur farmer has been put in a position where he had to verify the
- numbers.
-
- Sadly, many animal rights people have fallen for the fur trade propaganda
- hook, line, and sinker, and have repeated many of these lies about mink die
- offs.
-
- The message? Look beyond the fur trade for any sort of reliable news.
-
- Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 08:14:38 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: Mike Markarian <MikeM@fund.org>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Re: [US] 2 arrested in Minneapolis
- Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970519111703.29e70f14@pop.igc.org>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- >As they were leaving, one activist, Matthew Bullard, was pushed to the
- >ground and put in a pain hold by a police officer for no apparent reason.
-
- FYI -- The new issue of Earth First Journal has an interesting article about
- how police are now being trained to use "pain compliance holds" on peaceful
- protestors.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 12:43:09 -0400 (EDT)
- >From: Franklin Wade <franklin@smart.net>
- To: Ar-News <ar-news@envirolink.org>
- Subject: ALF Joins Miller's Protest Weekend
- Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970519124247.17329D-100000@smarty.smart.net>
- MIME-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
-
- On Saturday, May 3rd, 5 Compassion Over Killing activists were arrested at
- Miller's Furs in DC. They were falsely accused of "simple assault" by Jo
- Fisher-Hall(a customer) and Duane Walker(a Miller's Furs employee). Today
- the charge was dropped against the juvenile activist.
-
- As a tribute to Manny-boy's pathetic attempt to keep COK from protesting,
- we designated this past weekend as "Miller's Furs Protest Weekend"!
-
- There was a protest on Saturday May 17 at the DC Miller's from 1-3 pm. The
- cops, as usual, showed their bias towards the fur customers. One activist
- was pushed by a customer and even though the police saw this, they said
- the customer was provoked and would not arrest her.
-
- There was also a home demo at Manny Miller's house on Sunday May 18th from
- 9-11am. Reporters from the Montgomery Journal and the Potomac Alamanac
- were present.
-
- Not surprisingly, the ALF joined in on the weekend of fun. An artistic
- masterpiece was created at the Miller's Furs in Chevy Chase, MD.
-
- The front of the store was covered with the following slogans:
- STOP OR BE STOPPED
- MURDERERS
- ALF(3 times)
-
- The art continued onto to the side of the building:
- FUR IS DEAD
- ALF
- STOP NOW!
- KILLERS
-
- KEEP THE PRESSURE ON MILLER'S!
-
- _____________________________________________________________________
- franklin@smart.net Franklin D. Wade
- United Poultry Concerns - www.envirolink.org/arrs/upc
- Compassion Over Killing - www.envirolink.org/arrs/cok
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:08:59 -0500
- >From: Liz <lgrayson@earthlink.net>
- To: ar-news <ar-news@envirolink.org>
- Subject: a Report of the McCartney Interview
- Message-ID: <33809739.297E@earthlink.net>
- MIME-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
- Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
-
- What is missing from this "picture"?.
-
- 04:24 PM ET 05/17/97
-
- McCartney reveals almost all in Internet session
-
-
- LONDON (Reuter) - Sir Paul McCartney took to the Internet
- Saturday for a live chat with some of the three million fans who
- bombarded him with questions ranging from his tastes in modern
- music to his preferred underwear.
- The former Beatle, knighted by Queen Elizabeth earlier this
- year for his services to pop music, revealed that the Fab Four
- would probably have got together again if John Lennon had not
- been murdered in 1980.
- Getting through 200 questions in a 90-minute session, the
- cheeky lad from Liverpool said his greatest achievement was his
- four children and said he kept his medal from the queen by his
- bed.
- Much of the Internet chat session was broadcast live on
- satellite television, but it would have taken McCartney an
- estimated six years to answer all three million of the questions
- submitted.
- President Clinton filmed a recorded tribute, telling
- McCartney that the 1966 hit ``Eleanor Rigby'' was ``the most
- powerful song I have ever heard.''
- Asked if the Beatles 1996 Anthology album would have spurred
- the Liverpool band to reunite if Lennon had not been killed,
- McCartney said: ``It's highly likely we would have been reunited
- before the anthology. We have had lots of offers, but without
- John there is no Beatles.''
- McCartney said he liked the British rock band Oasis -- who
- have acknowledged being inspired by The Beatles -- and said his
- favorite guitarist of all time was Jimi Hendrix.
- The only question he refused to answer was whether he wore
- briefs or boxer shorts.
- Someone called Rosie asked him about his favorite underwear.
- He said: ``You would not believe the answer, so I will stay
- enigmatic about that.''
- Another questioner wanted to know if the knighthood had
- changed his life.
- ``It's a huge honor. We carry on as if before but I get to
- make my girlfriend a lady.''
- McCartney said he cherished his wife Linda and their
- children. ``It's not easy to bring up kids when you are in show
- business. Me and Linda consider we have good kids.''
- A spokesman for McCartney said the three million questions
- submitted made the former Beatle ``the most questioned man in
- history.''
- ``We did not imagine there would be so many questions. We
- thought there would be only around 300,000. No one has been
- questioned on this scale before,'' the spokesman told reporters.
- ^REUTER@
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 15:11:53 -0400 (EDT)
- >From: BKMACKAY@aol.com
- To: Ar-News@envirolink.org
- Cc: OnlineAPI@aol.com, CFOXAPI@aol.com
- Subject: Honk if you think plan to kill Canada geese is all wet
- Message-ID: <970519151148_-1365519131@emout11.mail.aol.com>
-
- The Toronto Sunday Star. May 18, 1997
-
- Honk of you think plan to kill Canada geese is all wet
-
- Nature Trail. by Barry Kent MacKay
-
- "If a student did this, it would fail," the university professor said,
- tossing the report aside.
-
- "It's a piece of excrement," mumbled a nature columnist (although
- "excrement") might not be the word he used."
-
- Thus went the conversation over a round of beers after a meeting of the
- Canada Goose Committee at Mississauga City Hall, last Monday. I attended on
- behalf of the Animal Protection Institute. The offending document is
- entitled A Strategy For The Management Of The Canada Goose In The Greater
- Toronto Bioregion.
-
- Absent from the table but present at the meeting was a federal wildlife
- biologist who has been dealing with urban Canada geese for many years. He
- kept his silence throughout the meeting, except for a terse and precise
- response to one direct question. I suspect he also recognized the futility
- of part of the solution suggested in the document.
-
- The problems many of us have with the report, prepared by Garner Lee Ltd.,
- are too numerous and complex to be adequately discussed here. I will review
- some of them in future columns.
-
- Essentially, the document seems to me more political than scientific. It
- undoubtedly meets many of its terms of reference. It contains some useful
- data and ideas.
-
- It explains something many people do not realize: our local Canada goose
- summer population is made up mostly of birds that are part of migrant
- populations.
-
- These "molt migrants" don't nest here but spend a few summers in the region
- before maturing and rejoining the flocks that migrate over eastern North
- America. This is the very goose population the Canadian and American
- governments have pledged to increase as a resource for sport hunters.
- Habitat modification, though necessary, may even reduce the numbers of
- migrant birds that northern aboriginal people depend on for subsistence, and
- "our" pre-breeding birds may migrate as far north as James Bay.
-
- There has been a five-fold increase in local Canada goose in the summer (when
- the birds molt) since 1983, when there were still lots of complaints. At
- least 200,000 would have to be physically removed to get down to the 1983
- level. That assumes that other geese from the depleted migrant population
- don't take their palce, and ignores the fact that young birds would reproduce
- earlier.
-
- Garner Lee has a controversial plan to slaughter an as-yet unidentified
- number of our geese at $30 a head to reduce the population of summer birds to
- an as-yet unidentified total.
-
- That idea may help appease municipal councillors who can tell complaining
- constituents that something is being done to resolve their not necessarily
- valid concerns. It may buy time to implement remedial plantings to reduce
- the attractiveness of open grasslands to geese. But it won't actually end
- the problem or the complaints.
-
- As for the smaller part of the population made up of breeding birds, even
- slaughtering 40 per cent of the adult birds may not reduce the resulting
- population over-all.
-
- -30-
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 22:04:30 +0200
- >From: gveillet@alpes-net.fr (Veillet Guillaume)
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: I need you !
- Message-ID: <199705192004.WAA11577@vienna.alpes-net.fr>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- (This has already been posted on vegan-l and ar-views. I have been told
- since that requests for info were allowed on this list, so here it is again.
- Sorry for those who have already read it)
-
- >Hi !
- >I've been around for more than a year now, but this is my first posting to
- the list
- >
- >I'm a 22-year-old French vegan (I got the disease last year in Oxford).
- >I'm studying Politics in Grenoble, France.
- >
- >I'm currently writing a thesis about the "Animal Rights Movement in
- Britain" (if there is such thing).
- >Nothing has ever been written about the topic in France (to my knowledge)
- so it needs to be perfect !
- >
- >I'd like to interview people who are involved in the AR movement in Britain.
- >
- >I'll be in England in two weeks time and it would be great to meet you then
- (I'll be in the London and Oxford areas). Do not hesitate to contact me by
- private e-mail.
- >Furthermore, if you know of any AR-related events taking place in Britain
- in >June, please let me know (even street stalls !)
- >
- >BTW, I can also interview you by e-mail (well, at least I can ask you a few
- questions).
- >Thank you in advance.
- >
- >Guillaume
- >(gveillet@alpes-net.fr)
- >
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 14:08:57 -0700
- >From: trap@wport.com
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Seattle Fur Xchange protest
- Message-ID: <3380C169.566C@wport.com>
- MIME-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
- Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
-
- Sunday morning, about 15 activists from the Seattle and Portland area
- visisted the Seattle Fur Exchange. The plan was for 4 activists to
- blockade the front gate with lockboxes, and 4 more of us to lock down at
- the back entrance. Security and police were already at the front gate
- when we arrived, but not at the back. We all locked down, and awaited
- the arrival of the SFX murdere, uh, participants. Unfortunately, police
- simply dragged the 4 front gate activists across the parking lot out of
- the way within 15 minutes. After seeing the ease in which police
- re-opened the gates, we decided to unlock and leave the back gate. We
- went back to the front to join the rest of the protestors. Eventually
- the media arrived, although at that point there was little left. Those
- arrested were not realized OR, and bail was set at $250 apiece. All 4
- refused bail, and awaited arraignment on Monday morning. We did still
- manage do disrupt that SFX for a short time, and while I missed the
- news, I beleive we did recieve some airtime. We'll see how the rest of
- the week goes....
- --
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
- Matt Leonard trap@wport.com http://www.wport.com/~trap/index.htm
- ------After all is said and done, more is said than ever done-------
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 17:49:31 -0400 (EDT)
- >From: Marisul@aol.com
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Reminder: NYC Spay/Neuter Conference (US)
- Message-ID: <970519174907_2086033377@emout17.mail.aol.com>
-
-
- The Association of the Bar of the City of New York's Committee on Legal
- Issues Pertaining to Animals is presenting a conference entitled:
- Can We Stop the Killing? Legislative Responses to Cat and Dog Overpopulation
-
- Monday, June 2, 1997, 6:30 p.m.
- House of the Association, 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY (212 382-6600)
-
- "Millions of homeless cats and dogs die in shelters every year. In response,
- many communities have adopted laws motivating people to spay and neuter
- companion animals. Should New York City join them?"
-
- Moderator: Jane Hoffman
- Speakers: Hon Kathryn E. Freed, Member, New York City Council
- Elinor Molbegott, Counsel, Humane Society of New York
- Louise Murray, D.V.M.
- Marion Churchill, President, Compassion for Camden
- John Sabella, Captain (ret.), Camden, NJ, Police Department
- Members of the Association, their guests and all other interested persons are
- invited to attend. No fee or reservation is required.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 18:58:04 -0400
- >From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US)
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970519185802.006879d4@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- ---------------------------
- 05/19/1997 17:52 EST
-
- U.S. Official Defends Mussel Beds
-
- By KATHERINE RIZZO
- Associated Press Writer
-
- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wildlife protectors are trying to get Congress
- interested in the
- issue of poaching freshwater mussels, whose shells are valuable raw
- material for
- cultured pearl factories in Asia.
-
- Marauding state-protected mollusk beds along the Ohio River and its
- tributaries can
- bring a determined trafficker $30,000 for just a few days' work, said
- Andrew J. Pierce,
- a special agent with the law enforcement division of the U.S. Fish and
- Wildlife
- Service.
-
- ``It can be more profitable than drugs and the penalties are less,''
- Pierce said
- Monday after describing for congressional staffers the issues surrounding
- poaching
- of freshwater mussels.
-
- ``We need a real strong law enforcement presence,'' said Pierce, who chases
- pilfered critters that have crossed state lines. ``We've got to impress
- upon Congress
- that we need more of a presence.''
-
- He said the poachers tend to have little fear of capture because it's
- difficult to catch
- them, particularly along the Ohio River, where mussel harvesting is
- virtually banned
- on the Ohio side and legal on the Kentucky side.
-
- Those who do get caught tend to get off lightly. A typical sentence is
- probation and a
- few hundred dollars' fine, he said.
-
- Poaching became a problem in Ohio and West Virginia around 1991, when the
- commercial mussel beds of Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas started
- to become depleted of all but the smallest shells.
-
- The protected Ohio River mussels, in contrast, can grow shells as large as
- seven or
- eight inches across, with thick walls that enhance pearl production.
-
- The Ohio Division of Wildlife now has full-time officers on mussel
- enforcement
- throughout the summer and fall, and the West Virginia Division of Natural
- Resources
- just began its first routine mussel enforcement operations.
-
- Alabama shell exporter Lonnie Garner said about 6,000 tons of U.S. shells are
- exported each year to Korea, China and Japan. The industry view, he said,
- is that
- states could stop poaching by making musseling legal.
-
- ``Shells are a renewable resource,'' he said, estimating that Ohio alone
- could
- support a mussel industry worth $5 million to $8 million a year.
-
- Ohio, however, is moving in the opposite direction; a bill passed in the
- state House
- and pending in the state Senate would end a small-fisherman exception to
- Ohio's
- musseling ban. It now is legal there to possess up to 15 mussels a day to
- be used
- for bait, but the legislation would outlaw that entirely.
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 19:18:19 -0400
- >From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (VE) Venezuela May Hunt Jaguars
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970519191816.0069c974@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- ----------------------------
- 05/19/1997 14:22 EST
-
- Venezuela May Hunt Jaguars
-
- By BART JONES
- Associated Press Writer
-
- CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- To save the jaguar, Venezuela says it has to
- kill some
- first.
-
- The government has approved a plan to allow jaguars to be legally hunted,
- despite a
- worldwide ban on killing the endangered species. Proceeds from hunting
- licenses
- would be used to move remaining jaguars to protected areas.
-
- ``To a lot of people this plan may seem cruel, but it's the only way we
- have found to
- finance our relocation program, avoid clandestine hunting and resolve the
- problem
- with the ranchers,'' said Environment Minister Rafael Martinez.
-
- Environmentalists and animal rights activists were outraged.
-
- ``It's a barbarity,'' Stevie Borges, an eco-tourism guide, said. ``It's
- absurd and crazy.''
-
- Venezuela has about 4,000 jaguars, leopard-like animals with black spots
- that once
- prowled plains and jungles from the southwest United States to Argentina,
- but have
- vanished in many countries.
-
- Three decades ago, Venezuela's jaguar population was 10 times larger, but
- development has encroached on much of their habitat, Martinez said.
-
- About 100 jaguars a year are killed in Venezuela, mainly by farmers and
- ranchers
- whose livestock have been attacked by the cats, environmentalists say.
-
- Scientists put the global jaguar population at under 100,000.
-
- Government officials say hunting would be limited to several weeks a year
- when the
- animals are not breeding. Fees and hunting limits have not yet been
- established.
-
- The National Wildlife Council approved the plan last week by a 5-4 vote.
- The council
- is comprised of government officials and private environmental and animal
- rights
- groups.
-
- Venezuela plans to present the plan for approval at the June meeting of
- member
- nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
-
- Martinez said he thinks the group will approve the plan, but even if it
- doesn't
- Venezuela will go ahead with the program within three years.
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 19:20:24 -0400
- >From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (NZ) New Zealand Rounds Up Wild Horses
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970519192022.0069c974@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- -----------------------------
- 05/19/1997 13:07 EST
-
- New Zealand Rounds Up Wild Horses
-
- WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Eight people were arrested for trespassing on
- army land Monday while protesting the roundup and impending slaughter of
- 1,200
- wild horses.
-
- The protests are part of widespread opposition to the Department of
- Conservation's
- plan to cull all but 500 of the country's biggest wild horse herd. Most of
- the horses
- will be slaughtered for pet food.
-
- Outraged horse lovers forced a halt to the government's plans prior to
- last year's
- election, but the government has rejected the protests since.
-
- The herd, descended mainly from military horses released early this
- century after the
- Boer War and World War I, has roamed thousands of acres of army training
- land in
- the Kaimanawa Ranges of the North Island, 150 miles north of the capital,
- Wellington.
-
- Conservationists' claims that the horses were destroying rare native plants
- prompted the six-week roundup.
-
- Smaller roundups in the past have ended with a few dozen horses being
- bought by
- horse lovers and the rest being killed for pet food or for export horse
- meat. Only
- about 50 people so far have registered to buy horses from this latest,
- largest
- roundup.
-
- On Sunday, two members of the Kaimanawa Horse Trust were issued with trespass
- notices after handcuffing themselves to rails in a yard at the muster site
- in the
- Kaimanawa Ranges, Department of Conservation spokeswoman Nicola Patrick
- said.
-
- The horse trust opposes the muster and wants the horses to be left to roam
- the
- Tongariro National Park, which the animals have made their natural habitat.
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 17:07:47 -0700 (PDT)
- >From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: [UK] Government will fully support ban on fox-hunting
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970519170832.3adf4f04@dowco.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
-
-
- [Sorry, I originally sent this out with the wrong header - guess I'd been
- out in the sun too long at the rodeo protest. I am now reposting with the
- correct header. David]
-
- >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, May 18th, 1997
-
- THE Government is to risk a political row by throwing its weight behind
- moves to outlaw fox hunting.
-
- Home Office officials have begun preparations to introduce a Government
- Bill, possibly before the end of the new session of parliament. Labour peers
- and backbench MPs are understood to have been pressing ministers to take the
- lead and improve the chances of the measure becoming law.
-
- Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, last week indicated that a Private Members'
- Bill was the most likely option, but The Telegraph has learned that
- officials are drawing up plans for the Government to put forward its own
- legislation.
-
- A Government Bill would remove the time constraints and stalling tactics
- that are routinely deployed by opponents of backbench legislation. But it
- would also risk provoking a confrontation with the Lords, already spoiling
- for a fight over moves to ban all handguns.
-
- A senior Whitehall official said: "This is certainly a runner. It is not an
- immediate priority but it could happen in this session because despite the
- weight of Government business the session will run for 18 months."
-
- Details of the proposals are unclear, but one possibility being canvassed at
- Westminster is a free vote on the principle of a ban followed by detailed
- legislative proposals from the Home Office.
-
- Another would be for the Government to adopt proposals put forward by a
- backbencher.
-
- Tony Blair said before the election that he opposed hunting with hounds and
- would vote for a ban - giving a broad signal to the 418 incoming Labour MPs
- of the leadership line.
-
- But any move openly to promote abolition through Government legislation
- could meet fierce opposition in Cabinet among senior ministers, thought to
- include Robin Cook and Jack Cunningham, who support hunting.
-
- The Labour manifesto pledged a "free vote in Parliament" without committing
- the party to adopting a Bill and when the measure did not appear in the
- Queen's Speech it was assumed ministers were backing away from confrontation
- by leaving the issue to a backbench MP.
-
- The move took pro-hunting peers by surprise. Baroness Mallalieu, a leading
- Labour opponent of abolition, said ministers were well aware of the
- complexities involved in drafting a Government Bill. "Some of the things
- said during the general election by a variety of people were indicative of
- the need for a proper inquiry," she said. "Even in a reformed House of Lords
- there is undoubtedly a majority among life peers for making fox hunting a
- criminal offence and a free vote is a free vote in both Houses."
-
- Many pro-hunting peers are unlikely to be deflected by the threat of
- bringing forward legislation to abolish the voting rights of hereditary
- peers. One pro-hunting peer said: "The hereditaries who face going out of
- business would use it as one final opportunity to kick the
- Government in the teeth."
-
- Successive polls have suggested that a majority in the country favour
- abolition but supporters of hunting predict a heavy backlash when the full
- effects of a ban became apparent.
-
- Janet George, of the British Field Sports Society, said: "There will be an
- almighty fight over this. Labour has a mandate from the urban majority but
- not the rural minority. The countryside does not trust Labour and an
- anti-hunting Bill would bring out a damaging divide
- that would set town against country."
-
- The BFSS claims that up to 20,000 of the 60,000 horses involved in the sport
- could be destroyed along with 15,000 of the 20,000 hounds. Around 300
- ancient hunts would disappear and point-to-point racing, which is heavily
- dependent on amateur enthusiasts, would be devastated. It claims that in
- some areas there are few other viable methods of controlling the fox
- population.
-
- Kevin Saunders, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "The Lords can
- filibuster as much as they want and might even succeed in rejecting it, but
- the Government can still have the final say once it is back in the Commons."
-
- ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
-
-
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 23:16:16 -0400
- >From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) Beer company sponsors prize-winning frog
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970519231614.006e0cc8@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from CNN web page:
- -------------------------------
- Beer company sponsors prize-winning frog
-
- May 19, 1997
- Web posted at: 4:04 p.m. EDT (2004 GMT)
-
- ANGELS CAMP, California (CNN) -- A beer brewer
- provided inspiration and financial backing for the
- winning contestant in this year's annual Calaveras
- County frog-jumping contest.
-
- "Bud-Weiser" the frog out-hopped 72 competitors to
- take first place at the Calaveras County Fair &
- Jumping Frog Jubilee. Its owner, Butch Alves, said
- it looked like one of the frogs that ride aboard
- an alligator in a Budweiser television commercial.
-
- Alves disclosed that the beer company sponsored
- his frog, but wouldn't say how much he was paid.
- His prize in the contest, which is based on a Mark
- Twain short story, was $750.
-
- "Bud-Weiser" jumped 20 feet, 4 inches, in
- three hops -- at least, that was the
- ruling by the contest judges. The second- place
- finisher, Bill Guzules of Santa Clara, California,
- spoke out in protest. "There's no doubt about it.
- He had four jumps," Guzules said.
-
- The controversy didn't dampen the enthusiasm of
- Alves, who found his frog last week in a Los
- Banos, California, pond. "We've been out seven
- nights a week for 9 o'clock at night to 3 or 4 in
- the morning," Alves said. "We went through about
- 500 frogs."
-
- In the end, Alves chose his champion based on its
- froggy physique. "It looked strong," he said. "It
- was a long, thin frog."
-
- "Bud-Weiser" failed to beat the record of 21 feet,
- 5-3/4 inches set in 1986 by a frog named "Rosie
- the Ribeter." Alves would have won $5,000 if his
- frog had broken the record.
-
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 23:17:15 -0400
- >From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) Study: Browned meat don't ensure safety from E.
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970519231713.006daca4@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from CNN web page:
- --------------------------------
- Study: Browned meat don't ensure safety from E.
-
- May 19, 1997
- Web posted at: 10:36 p.m. EDT (0236
- GMT)
-
- From Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen
-
- (CNN) -- After the Jack in the Box E. coli
- outbreak four years ago, the United States
- Department of Agriculture spread the word to cook
- hamburgers thoroughly -- until brown in the
- middle.
-
- But now studies indicate that a browned burger is
- not necessarily a safe burger. At least that's
- what Melvin Hunt, a food scientist at Kansas State
- University, concluded after extensive research on
- the matter.
-
- Hunt cooked ground beef and found that about 40
- percent of the burgers looked brown on the inside,
- but still hadn't reached the temperature that
- kills E. coli.
-
- "I really don't think that visual color is our
- best indicator of doneness," Hunt said.
-
- That's why Hunt doesn't like
- campaigns like "Browny the
- Burger." Browny is a creation of the Allegheny
- County Health Department in Pennsylvania. She
- tells kids to eat only browned burgers.
-
- And the USDA has a coloring book that says: "Color
- the middle of the hamburger brown then you'll know
- it's safe to eat."
-
- The USDA also has delivered that message by
- distributing T-shirts that read: "I would like a
- hamburger cooked until it's brown in the middle."
-
- Now, the USDA agrees that
- Hunt's research is sound --
- and that the best way to test a burger is to spend
- a few dollars on a meat thermometer, something few
- Americans are willing to do.
-
- "We think that the message of looking for the
- brown center is helping the public. We think it
- may have saved lives, at least prevented some
- illnesses," Kay Wachsmuth of the USDA said.
-
- The USDA and the meat industry say another good
- sign for safe burgers is to look for clear juices
- seeping from the meat.
-
- But Hunt says that's not good enough. His
- solution: Do as he does in the lab. Measure the
- temperature of the burger to ensure that it is at
- least 160 degrees inside .
-
- That may not be practical, but Hunt says it's a
- lot more reliable than the eyeball method.
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 20:59:13 -0700
- >From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Blind dolphin threatened wirh extinction
- Message-ID: <33812191.57BF@worldnet.att.net>
- MIME-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
- Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
-
- Endangered blind dolphin in Pakistan nears extinction
-
- Agence France-Presse
-
- KARACHI (May 18, 1997 9:55 p.m. EDT) - The endangered blind dolphin in
- Pakistan's Indus River is on the verge of extinction under the threat of
- environmental degradation and fishermen who believe its oil can impart
- sexual strength.
-
- Excessive hunting of the blind dolphin, whose habitat used to stretch
- over 1,750 miles covered by the mighty Indus river, has forced the
- marine mammal into a 106-mile section of the river between the Sukkur
- and Guddu dams.
-
- Although the stretch of water has been declared a dolphin reserve,
- wildlife conservationists fear the blind dolphin may be facing its last
- years before being driven to extinction.
-
- "There are only around 400 blind dolphins all over the world and all of
- them are found in the Indus River," said conservationist Najam
- Khursheed. "They are facing serious threat of extinction."
-
- "If the situation does not improve the species may vanish altogether,"
- warned Khursheed, a conservation director with the Worldwide Fund for
- Nature.
-
- Water pollution, a general decline in their habitat, including the
- construction of dams, are contributing factors to the demise of the
- species, dolphin watchers say.
-
- "Pollution of the Indus River is a great threat to the Dolphin Reserve
- area, especially since dolphins are mainly restricted in this reserve
- due to construction of barrages," Khursheed said.
-
- However, a greater threat lies in people's ignorance about the
- pinkish-grey to dark-grey blind dolphin, named for its tiny vestigial
- eye which appears as a deep fold just above the corner of its mouth.
-
- While the blind dolphin is able to perceive light through the eye, it is
- believed that it relies mainly on having evolved a sophisticated
- echo-location system in the murky waters of the Indus.
-
- Local folklore has lead many fishermen to flout a ban on hunting the
- water mammal, known locally as "bhulan" meaning a woman with a small
- head but large breasts and hips, with some believing that oil from the
- endangered dolphin can improve their sex lives.
-
- "Local fishermen even use these dolphins for sex as if they were women,"
- said fisherman Arab Mallah. "They would go even for dead dolphins
- believing their act gives them extra power."
-
- Legend says that the dolphin originated in the Indus when a lactating
- woman from Manghopir, near Karachi, refused to give her milk to a saint
- who punished her by pushing her into the river and turning her into a
- blind dolphin.
-
- The Mohanas and Kelle tribes, living along the banks of the Indus river,
- believe that oil from theblind dolphin is good for protecting their
- boats, said Aged Mallah, president of the Taraqqipasand Mallah Tanzeem
- (progressive sailors' organisation).
-
- "We fishermen apply all sorts of lubricants to boats: fish oil, even
- ghee (fat derived from milk). Sometimes we pour blood onto our boats as
- a sacrificial act. But it is the dolphin oil that is thought to be the
- most protective."
-
- "This oil gives a longer life to boats."
-
- A ban has been imposed by Sindh provincial authorities on hunting the
- dolphin, but it is commonly violated, environmentalists said.
-
- "Hunters catch blind dolphins mostly to sell its oil," Khursheed said.
-
- Aged Mallah said: "Dolphin oil is said to be very warm. If somebody took
- it in shivering January, he can easily feel it to be scorching June."
-
- He confirmed that the blind dolphin's numbers were dwindling, recalling
- having seen "thousands" of them during his childhood. The ones he sees
- nowadays are usually dead, floating in the water or
- washed up on the Indus' banks.
-
- The dolphin is also under threat from Hindu fishermen who eat its meat,
- although Moslems consider the meat as a prohibited food. However,
- commerce in dolphin oil makes hunting the marine mammals lucrative for
- all fishermen.
-
- Khursheed knows he and other conservationists are fighting an uphill
- battle to save the blind dolphin, and says efforts must be carefully
- carried out.
-
- "We are trying to launch a conervation project with the help of the
- Sindh Wild Life Department," he said. "The project will be aimed to
- create awareness among local fishermen and to minimise the
- pollution factors."
-
- The project has not yet been launched, the conservationist said, adding
- that "it takes time as we do not want to do it in a haphazard way."
-
- --By OWAIS TOHID, Agence France-Presse
-
-
-
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